


This Magnificent Love Muffin

by preux



Category: The West Wing, West Wing
Genre: Established Relationship, Koalas, M/M, Pandas, raisin muffin, raising the level of debate, trout
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-25 19:09:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/preux/pseuds/preux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh and Sam in bed together after a long day at the West Wing.  Set the evening after "Let Bartlett Be Bartlett."</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Magnificent Love Muffin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sarken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarken/gifts).



> My first West Wing fic....

“How embarrassing,” Sam muttered, flipping through his several thousand pages of background reading on homosexuals in the military and the Uniform Code.  It had been another long day in the West Wing and he was in bed, wearing Josh’s silk pajamas and sharing a raisin muffin.  Margaret had slipped one to Josh to get analyzed in the lab before she realized that Toby was joking.  It certainly tasted like it contained at least a million calories. 

Josh reached over with a pajamaed leg and hooked their feet together. Sam kept muttering. “This magnificent vista. This modest ballroom more like. Why do we even address these people?”

“At least you weren’t stuck writing about Lum Lum the Panda.  ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, as I look out upon this magnificent panda…’” 

Sam smiled as they played footsie.

Josh continued. “The anecdotes about trout fishing were great, though.” They stared into each other’s eyes and Josh felt his insides go a certain type of swimmy.  Like the swimminess associated with a trout that had just avoided being eaten by an aggressive panda, or possibly koala.  He was still having trouble distinguishing between the fancy not-really-a-bear bears. Why they hell couldn’t they deal with a real bear?  A man’s bear?  Grizzlies.  Yeah.  Like those grizzlies that eat dishonest military homophobes.   Now there would be a fine use of tax dollars.  

Sam jiggled Josh’s foot and all thoughts of bears flew out one ear to be replaced by the though of slipping Sam out of his pajamas and investigating his responses to some manly embracing.  Even after all these years, the mere idea of a bare Sam reduced Josh to a quivering puddle of want.   

The pen flipped out of Josh’s trembling fingers. He bent over to pick it up. “As I look out across this magnificent carpet.” 

A snorting noise emerged as Josh scrambled for the pen. “How do you even know about trout, Sam?  I didn't think you fished.”

Sam put on his casual look. “I just know about trout.”

“No one just knows about trout.  Do you fish?”

“No.”

“Have you ever even been fishing?”

“Trout fishing?”

Josh slipped further toward the floor and their legs strained to hold him up. “Yes.”

“No.”

“Any kind of fishing?”

“Does tossing a ping pong ball into a fish bowl at a carnival count?”

“No.  And you will be raising the level of debate in this country?”

Sam smiled to himself. “Yes. And, for the record, my piscine knowledge was legendary at Princeton.” Sam looked up as Josh leaned further off the bed. There was another snort.  “Are you laughing at me?”

“What?!  No!” Sam unhooked his leg and gave Josh a shove.  The white House Deputy Chief of Staff collapsed in an undignified heap on the carpet, grabbing his pen.  “Ha!”  He tried to disentangle himself and fell over.  “Ow!”

“What’s with that pen, anyway, Josh?”

“Donna has been getting upset when I lose my pens.”

“Donna Moss?”

“Yes. Donna.”

“And you’re doing this because of Donna?  Or because you’re uncomfortable when we gaze into each other’s eyes?”

Josh closed his eyes.  The relationship had grown difficult as they had grown closer.  It had always been a bit of fun, but neither of them could kid themselves.  They would never be accepted in their work if they were out. And even if they were, could they really make a go of it? Sam was so talented.  Wouldn’t this be standing in his way? Josh could never live with that. “I thought you didn’t want anyone to know about us, Sam.”

“I didn’t.”

“And I thought you didn’t want us to be serious.”

“I didn’t.”  Josh looked over and raised his eyebrows. “Don’t. I don’t.” Sam turned pink and Josh straightened his pajamas.

“That we agreed never to make this a permanent, exclusive thing.”

“We did.”

“And you’re not sorry, Sam?”

“No, Josh.  I'm not sorry.”

“And not changing your mind?”

Sam took a bite of muffin and chewed thoughtfully. “No.”

“And you have that call girl.”

Josh reached for the muffin. Sam held it over his head.  “Laurie.”  Josh tried to stand up, but caught his foot under the bed and fell back over. “Nice try.

“Right. Laurie.  And Mallory.”

“Define ‘have.’ And what about Mandy and Joey Lucas?”

“What about them?” 

“You ‘have’ them the same way I ‘have’ Laurie and Mallory. What if we just came out?”

Josh fell over again. “As what?”

“Flagrant, affectionate bisexual friends and nonexclusive homosexual lovers.”  For a moment their eyes met.  Sam felt his insides melt like butter on a toasted raisin muffin.  Tears rose up behind his glasses.  He set the muffin down on a nightstand.

“Will it bother you very much if I tell you that I love you?”

“No, Josh.  Would it bother you very much if I reciprocated the sentiment?”

“No.  But I still want half of that muffin.”  Josh put his pen on the nightstand and climbed back into the bed.  Then he carefully stacked up all their papers and took off Sam’s glasses.  “Let’s celebrate today, Sam, and think about tomorrow some other day.”

Sam looked away and blushed, then met Josh’s eye. “Yes. Let’s do that.”


End file.
